Georgia FACIS® background checks: Levels 1M & 3 explained
A Georgia-specific breakdown of the FACIS® healthcare exclusion search: what Level 1M covers, what Level 3 adds from Georgia boards and Medicaid enforcement, and which level fits which employer.
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Short answer
What is the difference between FACIS® Level 1M and Level 3 in Georgia?
FACIS® Level 1M covers federal exclusion sources — OIG-LEIE, SAM.gov, and OFAC. FACIS® Level 3 adds Georgia sources: the Georgia Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List, the Georgia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and disciplinary records from the Georgia medical, nursing, and pharmacy boards. Level 3 is the standard for direct-patient-care and licensed roles.
Every Georgia organization that bills a federally funded healthcare program — Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, or a state Medicaid managed-care plan — is required to verify that its employees, contractors, and vendors are not excluded from participation. FACIS® is the standard tool for that verification. This guide covers what a FACIS® search returns in Georgia and which level fits your workforce.
What is a FACIS® background check in Georgia?
FACIS® (Fraud and Abuse Control Information System) is a healthcare-specific sanction database that aggregates federal exclusion and debarment records with state licensing, Medicaid, and Attorney General enforcement data. Run against a Georgia candidate, a Level 3 FACIS® search reaches into the Georgia Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List, the Georgia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the disciplinary records of every Georgia healthcare licensing board.
Georgia sources included in FACIS® Level 3
- Georgia Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List
- Georgia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit enforcement actions
- Georgia Board of Medicine disciplinary actions
- Georgia Board of Nursing disciplinary actions
- Georgia Board of Pharmacy disciplinary actions
- Georgia dental, behavioral health, and allied-health board actions
- Georgia Attorney General healthcare-fraud actions
- Georgia contractor disqualification and debarment lists
Georgia hiring rules that shape a healthcare screening program
FACIS® answers the exclusion question, but a Georgia healthcare hire also runs into state-specific reporting and inquiry rules. Georgia uses the FCRA window. Records restricted under O.C.G.A. §35-3-37 should be suppressed.
Criminal-history inquiry timing. Governor Deal's 2015 executive order removed the conviction question from state-agency initial applications. That matters for clinical hiring in Georgia because a FACIS® hit and a county criminal hit often arrive together, and the order in which you may act on them is set by state law, not by the report.
Drug and cannabis testing. Georgia permits low-THC medical cannabis (Haleigh's Hope Act). No recreational legalization and no employer off-duty protection.
Salary history. No statewide salary-history ban.
Practical note for Georgia providers. GCIC access via O.C.G.A. §35-3-34 requires a signed waiver; First Offender records must not be reported unless adjudicated guilty.
Primary Georgia citations: O.C.G.A. §35-3-34 (GCIC) · O.C.G.A. §42-8-60 (First Offender) · Exec. Order 2015
Full detail lives in the Georgia background check guide.
Federal sources included in every FACIS® search
Both Level 1M and Level 3 include the federal exclusion sources that satisfy OIG and CMS baseline requirements for Georgia providers:
- OIG List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE)
- System for Award Management (SAM), including SDN
- OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list
- FDA Debarment List
- DEA administrative actions
- GSA excluded parties
- TRICARE excluded providers
- U.S. Department of Justice, Treasury, and State healthcare-fraud actions
FACIS® Level 1M vs. Level 3 for Georgia employers
| Federal exclusion lists | Level 1M ✓ Level 3 ✓ |
| Georgia Medicaid exclusions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
| GA licensing board disciplinary actions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
| Georgia AG healthcare-fraud actions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
Which Georgia employers need Level 3?
If any of the following describe your Georgia organization, Level 3 is the right search. Level 1M is not enough to see GA board sanctions or Georgia Medicaid exclusions:
- Georgia hospitals, health systems, and physician groups
- Skilled nursing, assisted-living, and long-term-care operators in Georgia
- Home health, hospice, and DME suppliers billing Georgia Medicaid
- Behavioral health, telehealth, and substance-use providers licensed in Georgia
- Any employer with clinical staff holding a GA license alongside licenses in other states
How often should Georgia providers re-screen?
The OIG Special Advisory Bulletin recommends monthly re-screening against the LEIE. Georgia Medicaid enrollment agreements generally impose the same monthly cadence against the Georgia Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List. A pre-hire FACIS® check is the starting point; continuous monthly monitoring is what catches sanctions that land after the hire date.
How SafestHires runs FACIS® for Georgia employers
SafestHires offers FACIS® Level 1M and FACIS® Level 3 as standalone searches or bundled into a Georgia healthcare hiring package alongside primary-source license verification, sex-offender registry checks, and county criminal history. Ongoing monthly monitoring is available for the entire workforce from the same dashboard.
FACIS® turnaround time for Georgia employers
A single-name FACIS® Level 3 search on a Georgia candidate typically returns in minutes because most sources are queried via live API. Manual review kicks in only when the search returns a potential match that needs GA board or Georgia Medicaid-exclusion identifier confirmation before it can be reported. See the SafestHires turnaround guide for a full breakdown of what drives timing across all searches in a Georgia hire.
Building a complete Georgia healthcare hiring package
FACIS® is the sanction-and-exclusion layer of a healthcare hire, but it is only one component. A complete Georgia clinical hiring package typically pairs FACIS® Level 3 with:
- Primary-source license verification against the Georgia Board of Medicine, Georgia Board of Nursing, and Georgia Board of Pharmacy
- County criminal history for every Georgia county lived or worked in during the FCRA lookback window
- National sex offender registry and Georgia-specific abuse/neglect registry lookups
- Employment and education verification, including internship and residency dates
- Drug screening under Georgia employer policy — 5- or 10-panel lab-based
- Financial Risk Search for Georgia finance, revenue-cycle, and executive roles with fiduciary duties (bankruptcies, judgments, liens from public records)
See Georgia background check laws for the state-level rules that shape package design, and the package builder to assemble a Georgia healthcare package end-to-end.
Frequently asked questions about FACIS® in Georgia
What is the penalty if a Georgia employer bills for services from an excluded provider?
Under 42 U.S.C. §1320a-7a, civil monetary penalties can reach up to $21,000 per item or service claimed, plus treble damages, plus repayment of every dollar that touched the excluded person's work. State Medicaid Fraud Control Units in Georgia can pursue additional penalties under state false-claims statutes.
Is a Financial Risk Search recommended for Georgia healthcare hires?
For clinical roles, FACIS® plus primary-source license verification and county criminal history is the compliance-driven baseline. For Georgia healthcare finance, revenue-cycle, and executive roles with fiduciary responsibility, the SafestHires Financial Risk Search — bankruptcies, civil judgments, and tax liens from public records — is a common add-on to surface public financial-risk indicators before hire.
Does FACIS® replace primary-source license verification in Georgia?
No. FACIS® surfaces disciplinary and sanction history, but it does not confirm that a GA license is currently active and in good standing. SafestHires runs primary-source license verification against each Georgia board alongside FACIS® on every clinical hire.